Guard for fire-alarm-box-door keys.



A. GLOUK.

GUARD FOB FIRE ALARM BOX DOOR KEYS.

urnlornon rrLnn ann'. 1a, mo.

998,494. Patented July 1s, 1911.'`

witnesses; f 14 9 l @Ave/#r- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTON GLOCK, 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

GUARD FOR FIRE-ALARM-BOX-DOOR KEYS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANTON GLoCK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Guards for Fire- Alarm-BoX-Door Keys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to guards and housing means for the permanent keys of fire alarm boXes.

It is common in lire alarm boxes of the Gamewell and other systems to protect the key by which the box may be opened and an alarm turned in, by means of a glass Window.

The present invention pertains to the means for holding this glass window or guard in place.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in whichigure l is a front elevation of the invention. Fig.` 2 is a vertical section on the line X-X, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line Y-Y, Fi 1. Fig. 4 is adetail of the spring-presse lever locking p A represents a cover of a fire alarm telegraph station box, and 2 is a dish-shaped castlng or plate inserted into andv artly through an aperture in the door, and carrying the permanent key 3 by which the lock (not here shown) may be operated. This pla'te 2 has side flanges 4 and a bottom flange 5 fitting the outside of the door around the hole to prevent the plate going clear through to the inside of the door; the plate being held in lace by a suitable means, as the screws 5 on the back of the door. The adjacent edges of the side flanges 4 are verticall grooved in a plane above the outside sur ace of flange 5 to receive a lass guard plate or window 6. The,cover 1s provided with a grooved flange 7 just above the opening into which the key plate or pocket is inserted, and the groove 8 in this flange is coincident with the rooves of the side flan e members 4. The anges r constitute, 1n fact, a window sash for the window pane or lass guard 6, which window sash is minus a iwer rail, so that if the glass plate 6 is left unsupported at the bottom, it will drop out tutomatically; but in order to hold the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 13, 1910.

'as the following, are provided:

Patented July 1S, 1911.

Serial No. 581,826.

glass plate in so long as it remains unbroken and yet ermit of a broken plate be- 111g replaced, suitable stop or guard means,

As shown, a lever 9 is fulcrumed on the inside of the door near the bottom of the plate and this lever 9 is provided with an outwardly projecting stop or trigger 10 which passes through an opening 11 in plate 2 and cover A, so that the stop 10 is interposable in the path of the guard 6. Suitable means are provided to keep the stop or latch 10 from being pushed back so as to release the plate, as, for instance, a springressed pin 12 on the back of the lever 9, w ich is adapted to engage in a notch 13 on the back of the cover when the stop 10 is pushed out to intercept the guard 6. Pin 12 is withdrawn from this notch 13 by taking hold of' the head 14 and compressing its spring, and by turning the lever to one side the latch l() is carried to one side from beneath the guard glass 6 so as to allow a guard to be inserted.

In practice, the door A is usually closed and locked, and the key 3, by which a citizen or other person desiring to turn in an alarm may unlock the door, is guarded by the plate 6. In case it is desired to turn in an alarm, the glass 'guard 6 is broken hereupon it immediately drops out of itsvaocket provided by the vertical grooves in\'langes 4 and the horizontal groove in top flange 7, allowing access to the key 3 so that the door can be opened and an alarm turned in. Subsequently, the repairer or the operator for the fire department inserts a new guard into the casing formed by the flanges 4-7, and locks this new guard 6 in place by means of the lever 9 and the latch 10; closing the door and locking it by the operators key which is inserted into the keyhole 15.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A guard for a fire alarm box door key, consisting of lthe combination with a box door having a vertical guide open at the bottom, of a recessed plate carrying the permanent key a glass plate closing the recess, said glass plate having its side edges mounted in said guide, and a pivoted sidewise swinging latch enga ing and supporting the lower edge of the g ass plate and operated from inside the door.

2. The combination with a fire alarm box, of a suitable pocket formed therein and 3. The combination with a fire alarm box,

of a suitable pocket formed therein and housing a key, a casing formed on the Outside of the door and around the pocket, said casing being open from below, a glass plate closing said pocket and inserted into the casing from below, and a pivoted latch acting on the bottom edge of the glass plate and supporting said plate against gravitating movement to thereby hold the plate in place, said latch adapted to swing parallel with the face of the glass and to a point beyond the plane of the vertical edge of said glass and eing operated from the inner side of the door.

4. The combination with a lire alarm box having a pocket therein, of a recessed plate fitting said pocket, a glass plate said recessed plate having peri heral side and top fianges and being open rom below, means for securing the recessed vplate to t-he door, said flanges having grooves in the same plane forming a pocket into which the glass plate the plane upper. end adapted to swing in a sidewise l direction into and out of engagement with the bottom edges of the glass late.

5. The combination with a lirealarm boX having a pocket therein, off a recessed plate fittin said pocket, a lass plate, said recesse plate having peripheral side andtop flanges, and being open from below, means for securing the recessed plate to the door, said flanges having grooves in the same plane forming a pocket into which the glass plate may be inserted from below to close the recess in said plate, and means for retaining the glass plate in position and supporting said plate against the action of gravity, said last named means comprising a pivoted latch member operated from the inside of the door and movable from one side to the other of the vertical plane of the side edge of the glass plate.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANToN GLooK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I).` C. 

